7th Circuit punts on President Barack Obama's recess appointments

12/26/12 1:42 PM EST

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has declined to wade into the issue of whether President Barack Obama had the authority to make four recess appointments earlier this year when the Senate was not officially in recess.

Several individuals who disputed a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board regarding refunds of fees assessed by unions said the NLRB's ruling on the point was invalid because three of the five board members were among those purportedly recess appointed by Obama in January.

However, in an opinion issued Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit dismissed the appeal because the petitioners had received the refunds they were due and lacked standing to seek refunds of monies due to others.

"We need not address these arguments, however, because we agree with Respondents that Petitioners lack standing to bring this appeal," Judge Ann Claire Williams wrote in turning aside the recess appointment issues. Her opinion in Richards v. NLRB, joined by Judges Ilana Rovner and William Bauer, is posted here.)

When Obama made the appointments last January, the White House and Justice Department argued that the Senate was constructively in recess even though it was meeting every few days in a so-called pro forma session. Obama also complained that the Senate had failed to act for months on many of his nominees. One complication for the White House was that Obama has signed several pieces of legislation passed in such pro forma sessions, even though the president now appears to contend that the Senate was actually in recess when it passed those measures.